English Heritage becomes a charity

The public body has been separated into two parts: the smaller Historic England and the charity the English Heritage Trust

Hadrian's Wall

English Heritage has officially become a charity today after the government split the public body into two parts.

It has separated into a smaller public body, called Historic England, which exists to secure the preservation of ancient monuments and historic buildings, and the charity the English Heritage Trust, which will retain the name English Heritage and will care for ancient sites.

Historic England will license the charity to look after and raise commercial income from the sites in the National Heritage Collection, which include such sites as Stonehenge, Dover Castle and Hadrian’s Wall.

The government has given £80m to fund English Heritage over the next eight years and the charity has committed to becoming self-funding during that time.

It will be headed by Kate Mavor, who joins as chief executive on 5 May from the National Trust for Scotland, and chaired by Sir Tim Laurence, a former naval officer.